Essential Electronic Design Automation (EDA)

Design Rule Check Tools

Larry:

There are three main kinds: Electrical Design Rule checks Physical Design Rule checks Layout versus Schematic checks There are many other checks such as timing, power distribution, thermal balance, and signal integrity. We'll get to these later. Electrical Rule Checking (ERC) tools check that all the electrical rules are met. Examples of rules are “no unconnected wires,” or that “one logic gate may drive no more than five others.” ERC is also run before layout to ensure that the netlist meets all the electrical rules. Design Rule Checking (DRC) tools perform physical verification. Just as each city has different building codes and restrictions for houses, ICs have many design rules and restrictions. DRC tools check ...